The Pencil Saves The day
by Animaltalker
Summary: It's Munch's turn to be the hero


The Pencil Saves the Day

As Cragen and his detectives looked for a way to access the abandoned building, Munch held an internal debate.

'You're not 25 any more, you've no idea if you can still do this, and nobody's going to believe John "The Pencil" Munch ever could.'

"I can get in," he said with conviction. He backed up a bit and took a running leap at the fire escape that was stuck well out of everyone's reach; he just caught the bottom rung. Everyone held their breath as he dangled from the rung, but soon Munch had pulled himself up onto the stuck fire escape, he didn't want to risk the noise of kicking or shooting it free, so he did what he was trained not to do, he went in alone, through a partially open window that no one else in the squad would have probably fit through anyway.

He softly cursed his dark glasses as he found himself in near total darkness. Eventually the glasses lightened and his eyes adjusted. What he saw did not inspire confidence. The floor was rotted through in places and the ceiling was falling down in others. Rats scurried along the floor like they had taken over ownership and there were signs that when humans had lived in the building their activities had been sordid. He saw a bent over spoon, a candle and some rubber tubing, the "works" of a junkie. In another area there were mattresses on the floor with so many stains on them of so many different shades, he didn't even want to think about all the activities that had occurred on the makeshift beds. And then, he saw it. The clue he'd been looking for, but the one that froze his blood, a baby doll, exactly like the one the mother had described. The little girl had been here all right or maybe she was still here, maybe she'd be here until he carried her cold dead body out of the building.

He heard something; he turned slowly hoping to catch the sound. There it was again. It came from up the stairs. He slowly and carefully picked his way across the rotted floor to the base of the staircase. He heard the sound again; it was a child whimpering. As much as he wanted to fly up the stairs to her, his years of experience said he needed to take things slowly and do things by the book, as much as a cop who is alone can do things by the book.

He came to the next floor and eased his way down the hallway, listening for her whimper. He finally had the room she was in determined, but he just wasn't sure if she was alone or not. The door was closed; he had no idea what he faced inside that room.

Munch pulled his gun out of holster and nervously wet his lips. He opened the door and yelled, "Police, freeze!" The tableau he saw frightened even an experienced cop. The perp had the little girl between him and Munch with a pistol in his hand. John decided he had to take the shot immediately, before the guy could move the gun, and it had to be a kill shot. He fired a burst as NYPD officers are trained to do. All he could hear was the gun's report and the little girl's scream.

John holstered his gun as soon as the perp's body hit the floor, and then he sunk to his knees, holding out his arms to the little girl. She hesitated at first, but then ran to him, clinging to him for dear life. She flooded the shoulder of his shirt with tears. He picked her up and carefully made his way out of the building. His squad was waiting for him. He handed the girl over to Olivia and then sunk down on the ground, not sure whether he was more physically exhausted or more emotional drained.

Stabler, Tutuola and Cragen stood around him and he looked up at them, "What?" he asked irritably.

"Damn, I never thought you were capable of any sort of athletics!" Fin said.

"Yeah, tall skinny Jewish guys can't possible be worth their salt." Munch said bitterly.

"Hey"– Fin started, as Munch levered himself off the ground and walked away.

"Let him go, I'm sure that's just decades of pent up frustration. Nobody ever thinks the tall skinny geek is worth picking for the team," Cragen advised.

"Nobody but the girls," Olivia said, as she and the little rescued girl watched their hero walk off, not into the sunset but into the concrete jungle of New York.


End file.
